Tagged: Big O

Let’s be BRUTALLY honest here. I love robots. You and I know that very well, but god, how could anything top that Sailor Moon Figuart announcement? Well, at this point, nothing really could, but that didn’t stop Bandai from pulling out all sorts of amazing announcements on the robots side of things. While we may not have gotten much on the quality side here, there’s certainly plenty of it. New Chogokins, new Damashiis, you name it. Some things we never thought we’d ever see in plastic form are getting figures now, and some things that have gone without a Bandai release for far too long are getting credit. Let’s dive in.

Now, I can’t express how AWESOME this is: the Big Order Room from GaoGaiGar! Yes, this has been shown already but come on, this is amazing. Each member presumably comes with one part of the playset. All I wanted was good, poseable figures of the individual robots from GGG, and it looks like my prayers were answered. I can’t WAIT until Volfogg comes out this December.

We’ve also gotten a peek at the two Ryu Sisters form France, KouRyu and AnRyu; and GaoFighGar! I can even see Mic Sounders behind them, too. Oh, the dream of having every robot from GaoGaiGar as a good figure just makes me feel so happy.

In addition to robots from the big three-G, we’ve also seen pictures of Fighbird! Apparently, J-Decker (my personal favorite) won’t be too far behind, but we haven’t seen pictures of him, sadly. Jerks.

One the topic of Super Robots, it looks like we’ll also get Giant Robo (awesome!), Big O (very awesome!), and… Testujin-28 FX (????). Yeah, that last one surprised us all. I guess SRW Z2.2 got people into that series again. All the same, it’s a pretty crazy design that just reeks of 80’s. I love it.

Indeed, it’s taken Bandai quite a look time for this guy: Danguard Ace! While he’s received metal toys from other companies, this is his first ever large-scale toy from Bandai. I have a friend that’s a huge fan of the Force Five version of Danguard Ace, so something tells me he’ll be saving up for one of these.

One of my favorite mecha series, Metal Armor Dragonar, is potentially getting its first foray into the Robot Damashii World!! Before this, the only high-quality figures were the Soul of Chogokin Spec figures, which were incredibly expensive, and everyone but D-1 was a webshop exclusive. Hopefully, that won’t be the case here, because I REALLY want a nice D-2 figure.

The Gundam Double X (and G-Falcon!) just may be seeing the light of day in the Robot Damashii line! Sure, it’s no Master Grade, but silly Japan needs to give Gundam X some love.

But the big announcement for me was on the Gundam Wing display: THE ARIES!! Yes, both color schemes too!! The Aries is one of my favorite grunts from Gundam Wing and it just so happens to be my Zodiac sign, haha. Additionally, there’s an Earth Sphere Alliance Leo hiding out back there. I hope that gets a release, as well.

Curiously, there are still no prototypes for Deathscythe Hell or Heavyarms on display…

Stupid Bandai! They keep making me want all this awesome stuff. I might as well just send them my wallet. Of course, you should open your wallets up for FPNYC when this all comes in stock, just saying…

My 2012 is off to a brutal start, as the first day of the year started with me having no power in half of my apartment for 4 days, but rebounded when I went down to DC for MAGfest2012 for another 3. The latter was rad, but explains my absence. NO WORRIES, NOW I’VE RETURNED, I CAN TALK ABOUT TOYS THAT CAME OUT LAST YEAR, SEVERAL OF WHICH YOU CAN STILL PURCHASE AT FPNYC!! So without further delay, my ultimately meaningless list:

Let’s start off with some import goodness shall we? While not the strongest year for Figma as a brand (IMO, people who love them some Madoka may disagree), Max Factory managed to pop out a few rad figures this year, one of them being the Figma based on Evangelion 2.2 ‘s Mari. In a sea of Asuka/Rei merchandise, Mari was a welcomed addition and her Figma, which came with a cockpit and a ton of variant parts and accessories, was great. In addition to that, the Dorothy (of Big O fame) Figma dropped as well, and I am bias as hell towards Big O merch, so that makes the list. Also Robocop, because, well, he’s Robocop; why wouldn’t he, right? 2012 looks solid too, as we’re expected to get a Figma based on Guts from Beserk, as well as Samus Aran of Metroid fame. This is best in life. We still have the Eva girls and Dorothy in stock BTW, as well as several other characters I couldn’t tell you about.

Revoltech had a stellar year, especially if you’re into giant robots. Evas? A ton of them, all of them rad. Zone of the Enders finally got some love, with the release of Jehuty, and more are on the way apparently, which pleases me to no end. A ton of American properties got some love as well, including the likes of Iron Man, War Machine, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee, rocking their Michael Bay designs. 2012 looks to be full of more giant robots AND more movie stuff, including the likes of Pixar movies NOT named Toy Story. In the words of Achewood‘s Ray Smuckles “That’s alright, coz that’s okay.” And wrapping up the super pose-able import toy trinity is SH Figuarts: which, while delivering awesome Godzilla, Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, Megaman X, and One Piece figures, stole my heart with the release of their Tiger and Bunny line. This line is hot, and I think we had the Tiger and Bunny Figuarts in for like a few hours before they sold out. We do have a nice variety of non-T&B Figuarts still in stock though, so hey, it’s not a complete loss if you come in looking for some. We also got a ton of new Gunpla in this year, including kits from the new series Gundam Age. Continue reading →